PREVENTIVE MAINTANANCE 3

Preventive Maintenance Procedures

Almost all computer components require preventive maintenance. The methods and procedures to clean and maintain these components vary. Here, I will discuss the preventive maintenance procedures of computer components in detail.

Mouse

Mechanical mouse:

A mouse with a trackball will pick up dirt, dust and debris, from any surface it rolls over, or from your hand. Keep the area where the mouse is used clean, dry and free of dust. If the mouse is used with a mouse pad, keep the surface of the mouse pad clean. Cursor movement becomes erratic when the mouse ball and/or rollers gather dirt. It’s a good idea to keep the mouse covered when you are not using it. However, by no means can you eliminate accumulation of dirt. So, make sure that you clean the mouse ball and rollers monthly.

To clean the mouse, disconnect it from the computer and open the mouse ball cover from the bottom of the mouse to remove the ball (You can usually remove the mouse ball cover with a “press and turn” action). A careful inspection of the small rollers usually reveals gunk. Clean the ball by washing it in soapy water and remove the dirt on the rollers using a cotton swab dipped in isopropyl alcohol. Dry the rollers and ball well with a lint-free cloth before returning the ball (make sure the ball is completely dry before reinserting it), put the mouse ball cover back in place and connect the mouse to the computer.

NOTE: Don't use alcohol to clean a rubber mouse ball as it may cause shrinkage and deterioration of the mouse-ball material.

Optical mouse:

To clean an optical mouse, disconnect it from the computer and simply wipe over the outside of the mouse, using a cloth dampened with isopropyl alcohol. The mouse can then be reconnected to the computer. Ensure that nothing comes into contact with the optical sensor while cleaning this optical device.

Keyboard

You will need to clean the keyboard more frequent than the rest of the computer system because it is the computer’s primary input device (one of the most used components) and it gathers dust and dirt faster than any other component. Dirt and dust accumulation on keyboard degrade its function (key stick together when you press them). Also, dust may cause a short in the keyboard, resulting in incorrect characters being displayed on the screen. Liquids (for example, tea, coffee, or Coke) that are spilled on the keyboard may also cause a short.

NOTE: In the event of a spill, immediately disconnect the keyboard from the computer, or disconnect the power from the laptop, and turn it upside down to prevent the liquid penetrating any further. Wipe or swab out all areas you can reach. A hairdryer can be used to dry hard-to-reach areas, or leaving the keyboard upside down to dry overnight may work. Ensure that the keyboard is completely dry before reconnecting it to the computer. Always keep the keyboard covered when not in use and clean the keyboard monthly to prevent accumulation of dirt.

To clean the keyboard, disconnect the keyboard from the computer and remove the key tops from the keyboard and blow the dust using a vacuum cleaner or compressed air. Small non-static vacuum cleaners can be used to remove debris from the keyboard as well as other small parts of the PC. These usually have a small brush head attached with a gooseneck that can be bent to provide the best angle for cleaning. Compressed-air can be used to dislodge debris from inaccessible parts of the keyboard. Dislodged debris can then be safely removed by vacuum. Large pieces of debris can be carefully removed using non-static brushes, tweezers or probes.  

Use a small amount of alcohol on a towel to clean each keycap and use a non-static-producing brush on the stubborn dirt. Ensure the keycaps are totally dry before putting them back on the keyboard and then connect the keyboard to the computer.

Printer

Printers have many moving parts and require a higher level of maintenance (to keep it running smoothly) than most other electronic devices. Impurities produced by the printer collect on the internal components. Over time, if the impurities are not removed, the printer may malfunction. The maintenance schedule for a printer can be found in the manual or on the manufacturer’s website for most printers cleaning, the manufacturer-approved damp soft cloth is fine. If ink has found its way onto the paper guides and water won't shift it, you can swab it off with cotton buds and methylated spirits (denatured alcohol, for non-Commonwealth readers). 

When working on any inky printer - ink jet or dot matrix - use disposable gloves. Plastic gloves from a pharmacy are perfectly adequate, but you shouldn't use them when working on static sensitive devices. Latex surgical gloves are harder to find, but better. Plus, they make you look a lot more dangerous.

 Procedure for printer maintenance will be discussed in detail later in another topic.

Scanner

The scanner surface should be kept clean. If the glass becomes dirty, consult the manufacturer’s user manual for cleaning recommendations. To prevent liquid from leaking into the scanner case, do not spray glass cleaner directly on the device. Dampen a cloth with the cleaner, and then apply the cleaner gently to the glass.

If the inside of the glass becomes dirty, check the manual for instructions on how to open the unit or remove the glass from the scanner. If possible, thoroughly clean both sides of the glass, and replace the glass as it was originally set in the scanner. When the scanner is not in use, keep the lid closed. Keep a handheld scanner in a safe place. Also, never lay anything heavy on a scanner, because you may damage the casing or internal parts.

CD/DVD Drive

A useful CD/DVD cleaning kit can include a lens cleaner that removes dust and debris from an optical lens; a disk cleaner that removes dust, dirt, fingerprints, and oils from the disk; and a scratch repair kit used to resurface, clean, and polish CDs and DVDs.

In order to clean your CD/DVD, take a clean cotton cloth and dampen it with warm water, wipe the disc from the center towards the edge of the CD/DVD (wiping along the track disc can cause scratches) and prepare the CD/DVD/ cleaner kit (Note that the CD/DVD cleaning DISC has two soft brushes: dry and wet). Turn over the disc and drop one of the cleaning fluids on the brush then insert the cleaning DISC into CD/DVD-drive bay like you would insert an ordinary disc. Try to open the CD/DVD Drive from My computer: and allow the CD/DVD to operate. The cleaning disc will automatically clean the CD/DVD heads with the picture displaying.

You can also clean your drive manually. Manual cleaning operations involve removing the cover of the drive, gaining access to the Read/Writerite heads, and cleaning them manually with a swab that has been dipped in alcohol.  Together, these steps provide an excellent preventive maintenance program that should ensure effective, long-term operation of the drive.

Monitor

 Monitors benefit from periodic cleaning and dusting.  Aerosol sprays, solvents, and commercial cleaners should be avoided because they can damage the screen and cabinet. Clean your cathode ray tube monitor (CRT), with standard glass cleaner and a lint free cloth. Be sure to spray the cloth with cleaner and then wipe (do not spray cleaner directly on the monitor and avoid scratching the surface of the screen). When you work with a cathode ray tube monitor (CRT), always remember that it is a piece of high-voltage equipment. It contains capacitors that store static charge for a long time even when the CRT is disconnected from the mains. Be very careful when handling the CRT, as this static charge can be fatal.  

Most LCD displays can be cleaned with isopropyl. However, you should check your manual for the manufacturer's cleaning recommendations. It is relatively easy to damage the front polariser of the display.  Take care to remove any liquid droplets from the screen because they can cause permanent staining.  After cleaning, allow 30 minutes for complete drying.  The screen should be shielded from bright sunlight and heat sources. Moving the laptop from a cool to a hot location can cause damaging moisture to condense inside the housing (including the display).  It should also be kept away from ultraviolet light sources and extremely cold temperatures.  The liquid crystals can freeze in extremely cold weather.  A freeze may damage the display and cause it to be unusable.

If a monitor is to be left on for extended periods with the same image displayed on the screen, turn down the intensity level of the monitor or install a screen saver program to avoid burn-in.  Most modern monitors have automatic level adjustment to protect against burn-in. Extend the lifespan of your computer monitor by shutting it off when not in use.

SOLID STATE DRIVE OR HARD DISK DRIVE

A hard disk drive (sometimes abbreviated as Hard drive, HD, or HDD) is a device used to permanently store and also retrieve information. There are many variations, but their sizes are generally 3.5" and 2.5" for desktop and laptop computers respectively. A hard drive consists of one or more platters to which data is written using a magnetic head, all inside of an air-sealed casing. Internal hard disks reside in a drive bay, connect to the motherboard using an ATA, SCSI, or SATA cable, and are powered by a connection to the PSU (power supply unit). The hard disk was first introduced on September 13, 1956 by IBM.

A Solid-State Drive or Solid-State Disk, SSD is a drive that uses non-volatile memory (you can turn off the disk and it won’t “forget” what was stored on it) as a means of storing and accessing data, much like computer RAM. Unlike a hard drives, an SSD has no moving parts. An SSD may also be referred to as a flash drive (SSD can be thought of as an oversized and more sophisticated version of the humble USB memory stick), which should not be confused with a USB jump drive or Adobe Flash. The first SSD was implemented in IBM supercomputers in the 1970s and 1980s and became popular during the rise of netbooks in the late 2000s.

 

Solid-state drives actually aren't hard drives in the traditional sense of the term, as there are no moving parts involved. A traditional hard disk drive (HDD) consists of a spinning disk with a read/write head on a mechanical arm. An SSD, on the other hand, has an array of semiconductor memory organized as a disk drive, using integrated circuits (ICs) rather than magnetic or optical storage media.

SDD and HDD Comparisons

Now, let us go to the comparisons between the two drives for a guide to choose what fit most into our personal needs.

Form Factors

HDDs are usually 3.5" and 2.5" in size, for desktop and laptops respectively with no options for anything smaller. 

The Solid State Storage Initiative (SSSI) has identified three major SSD form factors for the enterprise: SSDs that come in traditional HDD form factors and fit into the same slots (It comes in a standard 1.8”, 2.5”, or 3.5” size that can fit into the housing and connectors for the same-sized hard drives.), Solid-state cards that use standard card form factors(It comes in a standard 1.8”, 2.5”, or 3.5” size that can fit into the housing and connectors for the same-sized hard drives), such as Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe), and reside on a printed circuit board (PCB), and Solid-state modules (SSMs) that reside in a Dual In-line Memory Module (DIMM) or small outline dual in-line memory module (SO-DIMM), and may use a standard HDD interface such as Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA).

Performance

SDD starts almost instantaneous; no mechanical components to prepare and may need a few milliseconds to come out of an automatic power-saving mode. But Disk spin-up in HDD may take several seconds. A system with many drives may need to stagger spin-up to limit peak power drawn, which is briefly high when an HDD is first started.

If data from different areas of the platter of HDD must be accessed, as with fragmented files, response times will be increased by the need to seek each fragment.  Read performance does not change based on where data is stored on an SSD.

SDD is better because of the distinct performance advantages they have over HDD (even the highest performance electromechanical HDD), these include faster access times and lower latency. A typical HDD takes about 5,000 to 10,000 micro-seconds to access data where as a SSD has access speeds of 35 to 100 micro-seconds, which is nearly 100 times faster. This faster access speed means programs can run more quickly, which is very significant, especially for programs that access large amounts of data often like your operating system. Thus, end users typically enjoy much faster boot times in SSD compare to HDD.

Noise and Vibration

In general, SSDs are more durable and much quieter than HDDs, with no moving parts to break or spin up/down (With no moving parts SSD generates no noise). With the spinning platters and moving read/write heads an HDD can sometimes be one of the loudest components in your computer. Even the quietest HDD will emit a bit of noise when it is in use from the drive spinning or the read arm moving back and forth and faster hard drives will make more noise than slower ones. 

No vibration as there are no moving parts in SDD where as the spinning of the platters in HDD can sometimes result in vibration. Though there is a set of features in some Hard disk drives called Sound Barrier Technology that include some user or system controlled noise and vibration reduction capability.

Power consumption

The SSD uses less power than a standard HDD, which means a lower energy bill over time and for laptops an increase of battery life. With all the parts and requirements to spin the platters the HDD uses more power than an SSD. High performance flash-based SSDs generally require half to a third of the power of HDDs. But high-performance DRAM SSDs generally require as much power as HDDs, and must be connected to power even when the rest of the system is shut down.

Lifetime and Reliability

SSDs have no moving parts to fail mechanically. Each block of a flash-based SSD can only be erased (and therefore written) a limited number of times before it fails. The controllers manage this limitation so that drives can last for many years under normal use. HDDs have moving parts, and are subject to potential mechanical failures from the resulting wear and tear. The storage medium itself (magnetic platter) does not essentially degrade from read and write operations.

It is true that SSDs wear out over time (each cell in a flash memory bank has a limited number of times it can be written and erased), thanks to TRIM command technology built into SSDs that dynamically optimizes these read/write cycles, you're more likely to discard the system for obsolescence before you start running into read/write errors.

For both consumer and enterprise-grade HDDs, their average failure rate is 6 years, and life expectancy is 9–11 years. Leading SSDs have overtaken hard disks for reliability; however the risk of a sudden, catastrophic data loss can be lower for mechanical disks.

When stored offline, (unpowered in shelf) in long term, the magnetic medium of HDD retains data significantly longer than flash memory used in SSDs. As of 2011 leading SSDs have lower return rates than mechanical drives. Many SSDs critically fail on power outages; a December 2013 survey of many SSDs found that only some of them are able to survive multiple power outages.

Operating temperature

Comparing their operating temperature, most modern HDDs can operate at 0 °C (32 °F) and SSDs can operate at −55 °C (−67 °F). Thus, SSD can operate at lower temperature. Ambient temperatures above 95 °F (35 °C) can shorten the life of a hard disk, and reliability will be compromised at drive temperatures above 131 °F (55 °C). Fan cooling may be required if temperatures would otherwise exceed these values. In practice, modern HDDs may be used with no special arrangements for cooling.

Susceptibility to environmental factors

HDD heads floating above rapidly rotating platters are susceptible to shock and vibration. SDD do not sensitive to orientation, vibration, or shock and usually no exposed circuitry. HDD circuitry may be exposed, and it must not be short-circuited by conductive materials (such as the metal chassis of a computer) and should be mounted to protect against vibration and shock. Some HDDs should not be installed in a tilted position.

Moving from a cold environment to a warmer environment, SSDs have no issues on this but a certain amount of acclimation time is needed when moving HDDs from a cold environment to a warmer environment prior to operating it; otherwise, internal condensation will occur and operating it immediately will result in damage to its internal components.

SSD is not affected by magnetism but because a hard drive relies off magnetism to write information to the platter, information could be erased from an HDD using strong magnets.

Cost (Price)

SSDs are more expensive and their pricing changes rapidly: US$0.59 per GB in April 2013, US$0.45 per GB in April 2014, and US$0.37 per GB in February 2015. HDDs cost about US$0.05 per GB for 3.5-inch and $0.10 per GB for 2.5-inch drives.

The price of a solid state drive is much more than an HDD, which is why most computers with an SSD only have a few hundred gigabytes of storage. Desktop computers with an SSD may also have one or more HDDs for additional storage. HDD is much cheaper than SSD, especially for drives over 500GB.

Which one best for the needs?

Do these mean the SSD is far better than an HDD? Not at all! As we mentioned earlier, it all depends on individual needs. The comparison here is just to lay out the pros and cons for both options. To aid you even more, here are some rules to follow when you decide which drive is best for you:

An HDD might be the right choice if:

• When you need more storage capacity, up to 6TB (though with SMR technology new drives can have up to 10TB)
• Want to spend money with fewer budgets for your drive.
• When you don’t care too much about how fast a computer boots up or opens programs, then get a hard drive (HDD).
• If there is urgent need of Drive storage, quickly obtain one HDD

An SSD might be the right choice if:

• You are willing to pay for faster performance
• Don’t mind limited storage capacity or can work around that (Again, SSDs are working on this “con”)
• If you're recording music and don't want the scratchy sound from a hard drive intruding. Go for the quieter choice of SSDs
• If you want to reduce you electrical bills and want longer  battery life , go for SSD

HDDs are still the popular choice for the majority of average consumers, usually choosing the HDD as the storage option in their new computer simply due to the much cheaper cost. However, more and more consumers desire top computing performance and are opting for an SSD inside their new setup or as an upgrade to their current one. As such, SSDs are well on their way to becoming the mainstream, standard storage mechanism, especially for laptops given the advantages they present for a mobile device (they are currently the default storage device in the Ultra book category). That said, there will always be a market for both HDDs and SSDs. The advent of mSATA SSD devices and hybrid drives that include both SSD and HDD features is another option for consumers seeking a bit of the best of both worlds.

Hope you can figure out which type is the best choice for you now?

PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE 2

Preventive Maintenance Tools

You can broadly classify the tools used to maintain computer components in two categories: materials and equipment, and software utilities.

• 1.    Materials and Equipment

A common cause of computer problems can be attributed to dust, dirt, and erratic power supply. To keep components dirt-free, you can use various liquid cleaning compounds. You can take care of dust using a vacuum cleaner. To control erratic power supply, you can either use a UPS or a suppressor. 

1.1 Liquid cleaning compounds

The most commonly used liquid cleaning compounds include various forms of alcohol (isopropyl and denatured alcohol) and soapy water. Before you use any liquid cleaning compound, it is important that you read the manufacturer’s instructions and documentation to ensure that the compound does not have a detrimental effect on the component. You can also buy specialized cleaning compounds direct from the manufacturer.

Use a sponge dampened with mild detergent or soapy water to clean the monitor, outer case of the system unit, keyboard, and other peripherals. If you decide to use a piece of cloth instead of a sponge, make sure that it is lint-free. 

1.2 Vacuum cleaners

Dirt and dust particles get inside your system unit through its air ducts and lodge themselves almost anywhere. If the air ducts become clogged, air circulation is affected, causing the system to heat up. Other common problems caused by these particles include wear and tear of components and conduction of charge that leads to a risk of damage to the components. Thus, it is important to vacuum clean the interior of the system unit regularly. You can use small, portable vacuum cleaners, since they are economical and easy to manage.

Ensure that the speed of the vacuum cleaner is never set to “high,” since high speed might damage the delicate components of the computer.

1.3 UPS and suppressors

Erratic power supply or voltage fluctuation might damage the components of the

computer. Over-voltage or under-voltage in power supply can cause voltage fluctuations. Over-voltage generates spikes and surges.

✦ Spike: A short burst of electricity exceeding 100 percent of the normal voltage for an extremely short duration (microseconds), usually at 400–5,600 volts. A spike is also known as an impulse.

✦ Surge: Occurs when power exceeds 110 percent of the normal voltage for more than a few seconds. Surges are the most common cause of computer damage.

Under-voltage is also unfavorable to the computer. The most common under-voltage problems are brownouts and blackouts:

✦ Brownout (or Sag): A partial loss of voltage or power. Brownouts occur when the voltage drops below 110 volts for a few seconds. This might happen when the usage of the voltage in your area increases suddenly. Brownouts can cause frozen keyboards and unexpected system crashes, resulting in corrupt disks and lost data. Brownouts also reduce the life and efficiency of your computer.

✦ Blackout: A complete loss of power. Possible causes of blackouts are blown fuses, transformers, and downed power lines. Though a blackout might not lead to hardware damage, it can result in data and memory loss.

To protect the computer against damages that might be caused from over-voltage and under voltage, you use power protection devices, such as Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) and suppressors.

 A UPS monitors the power received from the AC source before sending it to the computer. It also acts as a backup power supply in the event of a power failure. A UPS has three components: an inverter, a battery, and a charger. There are two types of UPS: Standby UPS (SPS) and Online UPS.

✦ Standby UPS: Only provides backup power during a blackout. It does not take part in supplying normal power to the computer and therefore is not a good protection against the other types of power problems.

✦ Online UPS: Passes the power to the computer after conditioning it, thereby

providing protection against surges, spikes, and brownouts. A suppressor just takes care of the surges and spikes and provides voltage within the prescribed range. It does not act as a backup power supply.

• 2.     Software Utilities

A considerable decrease in the performance of your computer could result from scattered data or fragmentation on the disk. Fragmentation occurs when you frequently create, modify, or delete the files on the hard disk. Large files are usually scattered among various clusters. When you try to access a file that is scattered across various clusters, the access time increases. This is because a search needs to be carried on all clusters to put a file together. Also, some clusters of the disks might have gone bad. These clusters need to be identified and marked to prevent applications from using them.

You can use software utilities, such as Disk Defragmenter and ScanDisk, for assessing and fixing disk problems.

2.1 Disk Defragmenter 

Disk Defragmenter  is a utility in Microsoft Windows designed to increase access speed by rearranging files stored on a disk to occupy contiguous storage locations, a technique called defragmentation. Since the data is no longer scattered, the performance of the system increases. Defragmenting a disk minimizes head travel, which reduces the time it takes to read files from and write files to the disk. Beginning with Windows XP, Disk Defragmenter also reduces system startup times. It is advisable that you run the Disk Defragmenter utility regularly.  

Windows 7 reintroduces the analyze function and showing percent complete of the defragmentation, both of which were removed in Windows Vista. It can also defragment multiple volumes simultaneously. Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 do defragment a solid-state disk (SSD) but in a completely different way. There is less incentive for defragmentation of SSDs because file fragmentation has less performance impact on them and they handle a finite number of storage cycles before their lifespan expires.

2.2 Scandisk 

Scandisk utility is available with Windows 95, 98, and NT. However, ScanDisk cannot check NTFS disk drives, and therefore it is unavailable for computers that may be running NT based (including Windows 2000, Windows XP, etc.) versions of Windows; for the purpose, a newer CHKDSK is provided instead - this is not to be confused with the older MS-DOS CHKDSK. On Unix-like systems there are tools like "fsck_msdosfs" to do the same task.

2.3 CCleaner

CCleaner helps you with preventive maintenance via two tools to help keep the "bad" out of your machine. Not only can CCleaner keep your disk cache clean, it can keep your registry free of errors. Both of these issues can, over time, result in a computer running less than efficiently or, in worst case scenarios, not running at all. Using CCleaner regularly will go a long way toward keeping your machines running well.

A little preventive maintenance and information can go a long way to protecting your costly investments. You want to get the most out of your PCs, but you don't want to have to constantly be repairing or maintaining them. With the help of a few tools, you can do the right amount of preventive maintenance and have healthy systems to keep your business running smoothly.